Curtiss Wright XP-55 „Ascender“ – the American experimental fighter

The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 "Ascender" is a metal construction low-flying monoplane prototype, built in the USA during World War II. It was fitted with a single “Allison” V-1710-95 1275 h. p. power engine. The machine took to the air for the first time in December 1941. The aircraft was never put into serial production - only three prototypes were produced. Armament was to consist of four 12.7 mm machine guns. The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 "Ascender" was built in accordance with a tender, issued in November 1939 by the USAF, which wanted a fighter-interceptor for the defense of important strategic facilities, military bases and cities. The Air Forces agreed to the use of atypical structures, which allowed for a radical improvement in flight characteristics. Therefore, the firm “Curtiss Wright” built an airplane with elevators in the front part of the airplane, and placed keels with rudders at the ends of the wing consoles, and used a pusher propeller at the end of the fuselage. The XP-55 achieved a high top speed of over 620 km/h, a good result at the turn of 1941-1942, as well as an excellent take-off speed. But during the tests it turned out, that the plane has problems with the stability of horizontal flight and it is difficult to carry overloads - the last defect became the reason for the crash of one of the XP-55 prototypes in 1943. Its modernization potential was almost nil, which further accelerated the termination of the entire program in 1946 at the dawn of jet aviation.

A well-designed and richly detailed model of an atypical aircraft of medium complexity, for modelers of all experience. However, we recommend that modelers with little experience work under the supervision of a modeler with more experience, and for beginner modelers to make the model without cockpit interior, with an opaque hood and without landing gear, in the flight stage.